Another Book Thread

[Kaizer Sosay]

Currently reading: The Quartet by Joseph J. Ellis

Pretty good read for you history buffs. Looking for something to start when I am done with this one. Soooo...whatcha reading?

 

[wildcatadam6]

I'm reading a book on Ben Hogan (author Tim Scott) at the moment. Centers around dispelling the myths surrounding Hogan. Pretty good so far.

On deck is Blood Meridian.

 

[anthonys735]

All the light we can not see - A+
In the kingdom of ice - A-
Inside the secret race - A (if you like the tour de France)
Tragic life of Robert Peace - A+

Think I'm going to start "about a boy" next.

 

[davekersey]

I've written a couple of books. I'm currently giving away the second book while I construct a sequel. It is entitled No Inner Limit, available as an ebook at www.smashwords.com. The setting for the story is the Daniel Boone National Forest. Search for the title or my name.

 

[DSmith21]

Phillip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy. Very good crime fiction if you enjoy the genre. The first two books are set in 1930's Germany. The last is a few years after the war.

James Rollins- The 6th Extinction. Fast paced action fiction with a scientific bent. Think Clive Cussler meets Michael Crichton.

 

[starchief5]

Having finished Snow and Steel, about the Battle of the Bulge, I am belatedly reading Armageddon, by British historian Max Hastings. It is a surprisingly harsh assessment of the American and British, and especially Canadian armies in the last nine months of WWII. He makes a very persuasive case that the German army was far superior, even after six years of war and with major equipment deficiencies, and that the Russian army was also superior, in leadership, tactics and fighting ability.

His premise: The war should have ended in late 1944 with US-led forces breaking through to Berlin, and would have with aggressive leadership by the Americans in the west after the German collapse in France, along with a willingness to fight tenaciously by the average US and British soldier. The result of that would have been a much more favorable post-war situation for America and Britain, and millions of civilian and military lives would have been saved.

Max Hastings is not a great fan of the American army fighting in Europe.

 

[CUJO_1970]

Recently finished

Stalin: Court of the Red Czar
And
Young Stalin

Both by Simon Sebag Montefiore

 

[CUJO_1970]

It is striking to think that the Germans, despite all the difficulties they faced, and despite being outnumbered overall in the west more than 3-1, could mount a 30 division attack in the Ardennes in December, 1944 while the SHAEF high command never really attempted anything coordinated on that scale.

Imagine if the Wehrmacht had adequate air cover and weren't fighting the Red Army in the East.

 

[DSmith21]

The west defeated the German navy and destroyed most of their cites and industrial capacity without much help from Russia. The U.S./British forces were simply better than the Germans in those areas. On the ground, no doubt that Russia did more at great cost. That doesn't mean that our ground forces were ineffective. We took a lot of ground from the Germans in Africa, Italy and the rest of Western Europe. I suspect that Ike was more than happy to let the Russians take the bulk of the casualties necessary to capture Germany.

 

[DSmith21]

You are right, DSmith, but Hastings' thesis -- and it is controversial and perhaps overstated -- is that American and British soldiers, instead of being motivated by being on the clearly winning side, were, naturally enough, more motivated by doing whatever it took to stay alive. Bluntly, he says that democracies produce soldiers less inclined to blind obedience than authoritarian governments. The Germans were motivated by protecting their homeland and the Russians were terrorized into performing by a realistic threat of execution if they shirked, as well as by revenge. The US mode of attack was unimaginative -- plaster an area with artillery, then move to contact and halt until you could call in close air support. Tactics were more informed by minimizing casualties than by increasing the chance for breakthrough success.

I would agree with that thesis in general. Another British military historian that you might enjoy is John Keegan. His works were required reading in my Military History courses back in the day. I found them most enjoyable.

 

[DSmith21]

Those sound good, I will give him a try next time I read a non-fiction.

 

[mailman85]

Not to hi jack thread but for you history buffs out there Dan Carlin has a fantastic podcast covering WW1 and WW2.

 

[Blueisbest]

The Terror by Dan Simmons was a great read. It is fiction that reads more like non-fiction.

Just finished the 6th Extinction by James Rollins. As usual, his books don't disappoint.

Getting ready to start the new Stephen King book, Finders Keepers.

 

[ktbug]

German and Russian forces fought with a gun at their backs, yeah they were more tenacious. Let any man who says the Allies should have been more aggressive be the one to fight it or have his sons do it. It is easy to arm chair quarterback when you weren't the grunt doing the heavy lifting.

 

[ktbug]

German and Russian forces fought with a gun at their backs, yeah they were more tenacious. Let any man who says the Allies should have been more aggressive be the one to fight it or have his sons do it. It is easy to arm chair quarterback when you weren't the grunt doing the heavy lifting.

BTW, he is right about Democratic armies vs. totalitarian regimes.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

German and Russian forces fought with a gun at their backs, yeah they were more tenacious. Let any man who says the Allies should have been more aggressive be the one to fight it or have his sons do it. It is easy to arm chair quarterback when you weren't the grunt doing the heavy lifting.

To be fair to the writer (as I brought his name into it) he is not making moral judgments, or if he is, they are favorable to America and Britain. Of course a more humane, democratic and life-embracing culture is going to have a harder time filling the ranks of its army with remorseless killers. He's not saying that's a bad thing, just that, when it comes to total war, it can be an impediment to winning the fastest, most efficient possible victory.

 

[ktbug]

Gotcha, thought he was being an armchair, know-it-all, this is how it should be done type.

 

[st-louie-blue]

Currently reading Ridley Pearson's "Probable Cause." Waiting on Daniel Silva's new book "The English Spy." Most recent that I finished is David Baldacci's "Memory Man."

 

[AlbanyWildCat]

Just started "The Power Broker"...heavy book and not available as an e-book.

 

[CUJO_1970]

Yes, I have read and enjoyed most of Keegan's books. I also would recommend another Brit, Antony Beevor.
.

Reading Beevor's World War Two right now.